Early Pastimes of Srila Jiva Goswami

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Appearance of Lord Vamanadev, Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu
Kolkata-Worldwide, 30 August 2020, part 5

Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu is our Guru, you know that.

জয় রূপ সনাতন ভট্ট রঘুনাথ ।
শ্রীজীব গোপালভট্ট দাস রঘুনাথ ॥

jaya rupa sanatana bhatta raghunatha
sri-jiva gopala-bhatta dasa raghunatha

"All glory to Sri Rupa, Sanatan, Raghunath Bhatta, Sri Jiva, Gopal Bhatta, and Raghunath Das!"

These are the famous six goswamis.

Do you know where Srila Jiva Goswami lived when he was in Vrindavan? His place is near our temple in Vrindavan, just beside it. It is the Radha Damodar Temple. In the end, Srila Rupa Goswami gave all charge to Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu, and he worshipped Sri Sri Radha-Damodar Deity there after Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu.

There were three brothers—Srila Sanatan Goswami, Srila Rupa Goswami, and Sri Anupam. Their father's house is actually near Ramakeli, Malda. Rupa and Sanatan did not have any children, but their brother Anupam had a son whose name was Jiva Goswami. As you know, when Sri Gaurasundar came to Ramakeli to meet with Rupa and Sanatan, Jiva Goswami was a small child, a baby, but he received a great fortune to see Mahaprabhu's face. Although Jiva Goswami was a very small baby, when he saw Mahaprabhu's beauty, he keep it in his heart and always thought about it—ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane (whether he slept, ate, or was awake) he all the time was thinking about the beauty of Mahaprabhu.

After some time, his father, Anupam, expired, and when Jiva Goswami heard about it, he was very sad. He started going to Vrindavan to meet with Rupa and Sanatan, who were his uncles and also, most importantly, his gurus (Jiva Goswami Prabhu took initiation from Srila Rupa Goswami). Before he arrived in Vrindavan, there were also some pastimes that had taken place here in Nabadwip.

In his youth, when Jiva was studying, he always thought about Gaura Nitai's form, Gaura Nitai's beauty and pastimes. One time, he saw a dream—Gaura Nityananda came to him and gave Their foot dust to him. After that dream, He came to meet with Sriman Nityananda Prabhu, and they together went to all the places of Sri Nabadwip Mandal where Mahaprabhu's pastimes are going on.

First, he arrived at the bank of the Ganges. He heard that Nityananda Prabhu lived at Srivas Pandit's house. When Jiva Goswami Prabhu came there and saw Nityananda Prabhu, he fell in a full obeisance before Nityananda Prabhu. When Jiva Goswami got up, Nityananda Prabhu asked him, "Who are you? Are you the nephew of Rupa and Sanatan?" Hearing this, Jiva Goswami again paid his full obeisance to Nityananda Prabhu. Then, Nityananda Prabhu asked him, "How is everything? How is your family? How is everyone keeping?" The next day, Sri Nityananda Prabhu took Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu to Sachi Mata's house, the birthplace of Mahaprabhu. They saw very old Sachi Mata sitting there. She said, "Nityananda, I have just been cooking. Take prasadam here today, and Jiva Goswami has come also today..." Then, Ishan, the servant at Sri Jagannath Misra's house, washed Nityananda Prabhu's legs and led them in to take prasadam.

khao vachha nityananda jananira sthale
ei ami gaurachandre bhunjanu gopane

Sachi Devi said, "Eat, my child. Nityananda, You are in the home of Your mother. Privately, I fed this to Gaurachandra."

This is written in Sri Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya. After that, Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu and Sriman Nityananda Prabhu spent a few days circumambulating Sri Nabadwip Dham, taking darshan of all the memorable places. After that, Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ordered Sri Jiva Goswami Prabhu, "Now go first to Kashi and then to Vrindavan, where you can meet with Rupa and Sanatan..."

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